anti static wrist bands

[Giraffe]

do these things actually work well?

is it worth getting one 4 use with general homebuilt computers or upgrades?

 

[chuckshissle]

You can never be too safe, that's the saying my Gunny used to tell me. So when it comes to working with your pc or any sensitive electronic devices it's good to have an anti-static wrist band. Provides extra security and lowers the chances of having a static discharge that can harm your electronics. I used it for any of my pc old and new. But sometimes I get lazy and don't bother finding the wrist band and just go ahead and work on my pc without it. I have never experienced any static damage even when i was working while on the carpet. Bad thing. I'm not saying that there's low probability of this happening, but sometimes stupidy or ignorance can bite back. So don't do what I do and wear wrist wrap everytime you work on your project or mod if you value your electronics.

And don't work with the power on like my retarded friend. He fried his mobo in the process. :lol:

 

[jhalf]

And don't work with the power on like my retarded friend. He fried his mobo in the process.

Ouch!

 

[Crashman]

Yeh, those things can save you from a lot of pain. I get zapped by about a 3/4-inch spark every time I get up from my chair, if I wore an anti-static band it would discharge without so great a voltage buidup.

In fact, the joints in my fingers are starting to hurt from all the sparks...

 

[ira176]

I've worked in computers for years without an anti static wrist band and have not had problems. However, with my most recent build, I decided to stop tempting fate and I went and bought one. Murphy's Law was all I was thinking with all the money I spent on the new computer!

 

[croc]

They only work as well as the ground to which they are attached... And they only work ONCE. 1st esd, they stop, next one, usually they are dead. That's to keep you from frying yourself.

They can be tested with a dvm.... infinite ohms, no good. 0 ohms, still good.

 

[Giraffe]

And don't work with the power on like my retarded friend. He fried his mobo in the process. :lol:

lol. i know sum1 who did this. he built the whole computer and testsed it. he was about to close it and finish the job and then realized he didnt plug the speaker in. pluged it in and boom. goodbye mb and ~300$

do the antistatic wrist bands reall yonly last once or r they 4ever

 

[HamRadio]

An Anti-static wrist strap or ESD wrist strap is a device used to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) by safely grounding a person working on electronic equipment. It consists of a stretchy band of fabric with fine conductive fibers woven into it. The fibers are usually made of carbon or carbon-filled rubber, and the strap is bound with a stainless steel clasp or plate. They are usually used in conjunction with an anti-static mat on the workbench, or a special static-dissipating plastic laminate on the workbench surface.

The wrist strap is connected to ground through a coiled retractable cable and 1 megohm resistor, which allows high-voltage charges to leak through but prevents a shock hazard when working with low-voltage parts. Very cheap wrist straps do not have conductive fabric and instead use the fabric to hold the metal plate against the skin, which can result in reduced ESD protection over time as the metal corrodes.

you are more likely to damage equipment in winter, in dry environments, or on carpet. it is a good idea to use wrist bands if murphy has given you trouble in the past, the equipment is expensive, hard to replace, or not yours. things can be fried by discharge without seeing a spark.

Here is a nice review.

 

[chuckshissle]

And don't work with the power on like my retarded friend. He fried his mobo in the process. :lol:

lol. i know sum1 who did this. he built the whole computer and testsed it. he was about to close it and finish the job and then realized he didnt plug the speaker in. pluged it in and boom. goodbye mb and ~300$

do the antistatic wrist bands reall yonly last once or r they 4ever

As for my buddy he was installing a 7800GT on his gateway dual core pc, but before he closed the panel, he realized that one of the expansion slot didn't have the aluminum cover, so he tried to place it in and instead made a contact with the mobo and short it out. The pc then just restarted and didn't post. Good thing it still has a warranty and got it fixed. Also he's lucky the other components are unaffected a working fine. So much for him wearing the anti-static wrist ban. I wasn't there when it happened, if I were it might not happened or I would be laughing my ass off. Like I said you can never be too safe, especially from stupidity. Now he has common sense when working with pc's, learning from his mistakes.

 

[Giraffe]

wen touching a metal object to discharge yourself does it HAVE TO BE grounded? i mean if i touch the back of the case wen the pc is on a table is that ok?

can i just clip the aligater clip from the wrist band onto the case?
or will the alligator eat my parts? lol jk

 

[chunkymonster]

If you can get a wrist strap for like, free...the it's worth having one...but so long as you touch the case prior to doing any work there are no worries of frying the mobo or parts...

wen touching a metal object to discharge yourself does it HAVE TO BE grounded? i mean if i touch the back of the case wen the pc is on a table is that ok?

No, the object you are discharging yourself to does not have to be grounded. Given that your feet are on the floor, you will actually become the ground. Yes, if you touch the back of the case or the power supply housing while the pc is unplugged on a table you will be ok. It's not that you have to discharge to a grounded pc to rid yourself of static it's that you have to "equalize" the static charge between you and the pc. If, prior to working on your pc, you touch the case and you get a slight static shock, that slight shock is the static charge difference built up between you and the pc being disharged and grounding out thru you to the floor. Hence, touching the case and or power supply prior to working on the pc is just fine. With that said, given you may get a slight static discharge from your pc prior to working on it, you do not want the mobo, memory, processor, or any slotted components to be the first thing you touch, that's how people fry their parts, always touch the case or psu first.

 

[RichPLS]

Yeh, those things can save you from a lot of pain. I get zapped by about a 3/4-inch spark every time I get up from my chair, if I wore an anti-static band it would discharge without so great a voltage buidup.

In fact, the joints in my fingers are starting to hurt from all the sparks...

Damn... you are just electrostaticly predispositioned, a regular tower of terawatts!

 

[gman01]

I usually rub my motherboard across the carpet for good luck, before putting everything together....

 

[Giraffe]

I usually rub my motherboard across the carpet for good luck, before putting everything together....

i gotta try that next time

 

[rodney_ws]

I agree that static wrist bands work... but based on my personal observations they're not exactly required. Yes, static electricty can and will destroy components... but I think the likelyhood of this happening is overstated. I've been messing around with homebuilt systems for over 10 years and I've only lost one component (some Corsair ValueRAM DIMM) and there is no guarantee it was damaged by static electricity. I think it's possible to be careful without using a wrist band (aka "geek strap")

 

[chunkymonster]

Yeh, those things can save you from a lot of pain. I get zapped by about a 3/4-inch spark every time I get up from my chair, if I wore an anti-static band it would discharge without so great a voltage buidup.

In fact, the joints in my fingers are starting to hurt from all the sparks...

You may want to invest in a good humidifier, especially if you've got forced hot air heating...either that or stop wearing that wool body suit and rubbing yourself... :lol: :lol: :lol: 8O

 

[sailer]

It's a good idea to have but not really needed. As long as you make sure to ground yourself by touching the side of the case then you will be just fine.

A couple decades ago I saw how delicately some computer workshop guys handled parts and spoke like there was some special "voodoo" involved when handled ram sticks and such. I thought it was silly. I've worked on computers for over thiry years and never fried anything from static discharge, at least not yet. I just make sure I ground myself to the case by touching it, and I do this every couple minutes or so. That's easy, since I'm working on the thing anyway.Maybe I've just been lucky and Murphy is waiting to get me, but its worked for a very long time. Don't know, but I do know that my present system seems to work.

 

[Rashind]

I've personally fried two motherboards, a sound card, and a video card with ESD. Get the frickin' wrist strap! It's five dollars. It's pretty cheap insurance.

 

[baladorr]

A wrist band won't save you from stupidity. If you short a motherboard while the computer is on, a wrist band will not keep your components safe. The wrist band is supposed to equalize the charge between you and the equipment you are working on. When I replace components (in my job) I always attach my strap to the frame of the computer and first handle the replacement component by the anti-static packaging. Only then do I handle the replacement component directly. It may sound like a lot of precaution, but once you do it once or twice it becomes automatic and does not slow you down. Also, it is recommended that you test your wrist strap regularly, especially if you are working in a professional capacity. Unless it is the disposable type, (3M makes them), wrist straps DO go bad, but (mostly) only if they are subjected to very high voltages which then would destroy the resistor which insulates you from a dangerous shock.

 

[baladorr]

I've personally fried two motherboards, a sound card, and a video card with ESD. Get the frickin' wrist strap! It's five dollars. It's pretty cheap insurance.

Agree. The notion that the wrist strap is too "geeky" is silly. Surely, the cost of feeling like a geek for the few minutes you might use a wrist strap is far outweighed by the idiotic feeling of destroying a brand new $300 component. I agree it is possible to properly protect yourself from ESD damage if you are careful, but the wrist strap make it a lot more seamless. Every time you come in contact with an object, electrons are traded with that object, and you and that object become more or less electrically equalized. ESD does not necessarily manifest itself in a catastrophic failure of a component. There can be latent damage which is not immediately apparent, but will cause shortened life span of the affected component. This is all elementary knowledge and everybody who works inside a computer case ought to know and follow the proper precautions and take it seriously.

(EDIT: Make sure the strap you get is comfortable and does not irritate you when you wear it because you will be less likely to wear it regularly. I usually wear mine around my neck when I travel between sites and then, when I need to un-clip myself, I keep the wrist strap on and simply clip the end to a belt loop. I also sometimes leave the alligator clip attached, and unplug the far end from the alligator clip. Some straps do not have this feature.)

 

[chuckshissle]

I usually rub my motherboard across the carpet for good luck, before putting everything together....

i gotta try that next time

:lol:


Yeah, I rub and drag my feet with socks on the carpet before touching the components, that's how I test it's reliability. I haven't seen one of the components pass, though. :?




Disclaimer: It's a joke and don't do it or you can do it with your own risk and I clain not responsible for any damage.

 

[qwazzy]

You can never be too safe, that's the saying my Gunny used to tell me. So when it comes to working with your pc or any sensitive electronic devices it's good to have an anti-static wrist band. Provides extra security and lowers the chances of having a static discharge that can harm your electronics. I used it for any of my pc old and new. But sometimes I get lazy and don't bother finding the wrist band and just go ahead and work on my pc without it. I have never experienced any static damage even when i was working while on the carpet. Bad thing. I'm not saying that there's low probability of this happening, but sometimes stupidy or ignorance can bite back. So don't do what I do and wear wrist wrap everytime you work on your project or mod if you value your electronics.

And don't work with the power on like my retarded friend. He fried his mobo in the process. :lol:

Hey, Chucky, you're making me look bad here! Actually, I fried my HD.

 

[chuckshissle]

How did you manage to do that?

 

[qwazzy]

How did you manage to do that?

Eh, don't ask. I lost all 300 GB of files and apps. Now, after $25 of profit for UPS and Seagate, my new HD is coming tomorrow. BTW, not to hijack this thread, but the HD on this Dell sometimes"ticks". It's not doing it right now though...

 

[niz]

To all the people saying ""I've never bothered about preventing static and my PC is always fine":

I'm a software dev. in the avionics industry. we take anti static precatuinons very seriously, for a good reason. The thing to know is that a static zap doesn't necessarily kill a whole system to instant obvious death.

You can be thinking your new system is working ok but actually you've fried some small part (like one bit in one of your memory sticks) that you won't ever find unless you run an exhaustive memory test.

Often such failures don't show up as an obvious system fault, but just make your PC behave slightly unreliably sometimes, or causes odd errors such as crashes occasionally under certain conditions or when running certain software, so most people wouldn't normally guess it could be as a result of static damage.

Static can also cause a component to fail early but not immediately, so after being zapped the system may be fine for now but could fail in the next day, month or year. Have you ever just powered up your PC one day as usual and found its screwed? Now you know one more possible reason why.

Anti-static really IS worth taking the time over.